TO: STATE REFUGEE COORDINATORS
FROM: Nguyen Van Hanh, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement
SUBJECT: Summary of Planning Session on Resettlement of Somali Bantu Refugees
Purpose
The purpose of this letter is to provide programmatic information to States and others involved in the resettlement of Somali Bantu refugees.
Background
As part of its 2003 Annual Consultation on October 8-10 in Washington, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) conducted a day-long workshop to plan a subsequent plenary session on the subject of resettlement of Somali Bantu. Numerous State and volag resettlement practitioners with actual experience with Bantu were joined in that workshop by governmental and other resource people to discuss successful (and unsuccessful) resettlement strategies for this population.
The attachment reflects ORR staff notes taken during the workshop, and a list of technical assistance organizations and sources. As promised by ORR, they are made available at this time because of the continuing arrival of Bantu refugees, with the hope that information from the workshop will be helpful. A more formal summary of the above mentioned plenary session will be included in Proceedings of the Consultation to be made available early in 2004.
ORR is very grateful to the workshop participants, and hopes this document will provide useful information on resettlement strategies for Bantu.
Enclosure